Eastern Idahoans Fail To Buckle Up
Like many families, the Coesens proudly display their baby’s hand and foot prints for everyone to see when they come over. But Trinity’s are extra tiny, because she was only two pounds.
One can also see her rattle and the light pink photo album, filled with pictures taken during the 20 short minutes of her life.
“We do think about it a lot,” said Kalli Coesens, Trinity’s mom. “Every day.”
In April 2010, Kalli was six months pregnant with Trinity on a road trip from Idaho Falls to Seattle.
“I was in the back seat with my seat belt off,” said Coesens. “I don’t know if you’ve ever done this, but you lay across the back seat and you sleep, you know?””
She was only an hour away when a rollover accident sent her flying out of the car.
“I kept asking everyone ‘Is my baby OK? Is my baby OK?’ and they told me that she was,” said Coesens. “And then all of a sudden, they said her heartbeat got really slow. And they said she was in a lot of distress, so they had to take me in for an emergency C-section. They got her out and she was alive for about 20 minutes, but then her heart just gave out. She couldn’t take it. Too little.”
The Coesens and Trinity are not the only ones whose lives have been changed by not wearing a seat belt.
“Seat belt usage in Eastern Idaho is much lower than the national average,” said Sgt. Scott Zaug with the Idaho State Police. “One of the lowest in the state.”
According to the Idaho Transportation Department, the state average is just below 80 percent, only 60.6 percent of folks in the Pocatello region buckle up and the Idaho Falls area isn’t much better at 68 percent.
Sgt. Zaug has lived in Eastern Idaho his whole life and has a few ideas.
“Because we’re a rural farm area, it has a lot to do with it,” said Zaug.
He also said the lack of serious consequences could have something to do with it.
In Idaho, not buckling up is a secondary offense, which means an officer cannot pull someone over just for not wearing their seat belt.
And the tickets are only about $10 for adults.
As for the folks who think buckling up is more harmful than good, Sgt. Zaug said it’s just not true.
“People always say ‘Well, if I were in an accident I’d rather be free or thrown free from a vehicle, I’d have a better chance.’ But that’s simply not the case,” said Zaug. “You’re just playing the odds really. If you can stay in the car and stay in the passenger compartment, the vehicles are made to withstand damage and keep that compartment in tact.”
As for Coesens, she keeps the memory of Trinity alive, showing 9-month old Zander, her second child, pictures of his big sister. They even took a trip to her grave last month, for her birthday.
“They tell me not to play the ‘What If’ game but I’m always going to wonder ‘What if I’d been wearing a seat belt, would she still be here?'” said Coesens. “I always wear it, and the one time I didn’t, this happened.”
According to the Idaho Transportation Department, in 2010, 150 people in the Gem State lost their lives in car accidents. Only 71 were wearing seat belts.
According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 36 of those deaths could have been prevented by buckling up.
To help change these statistics, Idaho State Police have mobilization efforts a couple times a year. The next one is coming up at the end of this month, just in time for Memorial Day.
